Winning season, bowl game at the top of Tulane football coach Bob Toledo's wish lis

Rusty Costanza/The Times-PicayuneTulane Coach Bob Toledo says it's time for his team to play for a bowl berth.

The preseason smile is still there.

Bob Toledo is wearing it as he prepares to embark on his fifth season as Tulane’s football coach, the only coach in Conference USA facing a 13-game schedule.

All of which brings up simple arithmetic.

While last year’s 4-8 finish was the third straight year Toledo’s Green Wave improved its W-L ledger, it was no passing grade.

“For me,’’ said Toledo, “a passing grade comes down to two things, a winning record and playing in a bowl.’’

Which this season means seven victories.

Which, in this case, also means make hay early, before playing four of your last five on the road, with the only Superdome date during that stretch against Houston, a member of the Conference USA elite.

So why the smile?

The head coach will tell you, while it’s nice to have 17 starters back in uniform — including seven on offense and seven on defense — it’s even nicer to have “the most depth in the defensive line since I’ve been here, to have more than 60 percent of our scoring returning, and 80 percent of our rushing attack back in harness.’’

Of course, it still remains to be seen how much of this shows up on the scoreboard.

Last season Toledo had reason to smile four times — winning the opener against Southeastern Louisiana, the day the Wave went on the road to upset Rutgers of the Big East Conference, on the road to handle UTEP, and at the Superdome to rally for a 54-49 win over Rice.

Other than that, smiles were subdued.

At the moment, you mention a few names and Toledo’s eyes brighten.

You begin with quarterback Ryan Griffin, a 6-5, 215-pound junior redshirt, a starter the past two years.

He’s coming off a 2,371-yard, 14-touchdown season, completing 60 percent of his passes.

“Ryan has the warrior mentality,’’ said Toledo. “He played through all kinds of pain, in the foot and shoulder, a broken bone. You couldn’t ask for a more dedicated leader the other guys rally around. There were days when I couldn’t stop smiling over what Ryan was doing out on the field.’’

There was the day Griffin threw for 412 yards against Tulsa, the fourth-best passing day in Tulane history.

The the day he threw for 370 yards against Marshall, when he wore out his arm in going 36-for-64.

And the day he went 21-for-34 in throwing for 314 yards against Rice, including a game-winning 73-yarder.

That would also apply to running back Orleans Darkwa, a 5-11, 200-pound redshirt sophomore out of Nashville, a preseason candidate for the Doak Walker Award.

As a freshman, he hung up a couple of school records, rushing for 925 yards on 184 carries and 11 touchdowns. In one swoop, Darkwa beat the 860 yards former Wave standout Mewelde Moore rushed for as a freshman in 2000 and the 10 touchdowns scored by Jamaican Dartez in 1995.

“Orleans Darkwa is a smart, quick cookie, with great vision and no ego, the complete team player,’’ said Toledo. “To me, he’s a coach’s dream.’’

Two other Greenies on the national watch list are junior linebacker Trent Mackey (Rotary Lombardi) and junior receiver Ryan Grant (Biletnikoff).

“We took somewhat of a hit at both positions, so it makes me smile to have people like Trent and Ryan going at it again,’’ said the coach. “They’ve proven they can come up with big plays. And we’re going to need some.’’

Last season Grant grabbed 33 passes for 515 yards and four touchdowns, highlighted by the game-winner against Rice. As for Mackey, a 5-11, 220-pound transfer from Duke, he was one of the nation’s leading tacklers in his first Tulane campaign, starting every game and coming up with 63 solo stops, 17th nationally.

It’s no secret where the Achilles’ heel for Toledo’s football team lies.

Special teams.

“Our inability to handle the punt and kickoff game, especially the return, dogged us all season,’’ said Toledo. “Obviously, covering punts and kickoffs depends a lot on the qualities of the people you put out there. We’ll have 22 new faces on the roster and my hope is some of them will step in to upgrade that phase of the game.

“The best special teams feeling is having a place-kicker like Cairo Santos back for his sophomore season. He goes 13-for-16 in field goals, 32-for-33 on extra points and he averages 59 yards in 57 kickoffs. Those 13 field goals was a conference high for a freshman. Goes without saying Cairo is a valuable member of this team.’’

Aside from special teams, the No. 2 cause of a 4-8 finish was a defense that surrendered more than its share of big plays.

“There were times the long gainers ate us alive,’’ said Toledo. “My optimism here rests on one belief: I think we have the deepest, fastest defensive line since I’ve been here. I’m talking about Dezman Moses and Austin Jacks at end, Chris Asumnu and Cedric Wilson at the tackles. And they’ll have people pushing ’em. Overall, the defense returns seven of the top 10 tacklers. So it’s definitely an upgrade.’’

The bottom line question: Are there upgrades for a seven-win finish?

“We’ve gotta come out of the starting blocks like we’re running a sprint, not a marathon,’’ said Toledo. “If we can do that, we’ll have that 13-game arithmetic going for us.’’

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Peter Finney can be reached at pfinney@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3802.